Chapter 135

In the deep of night when everyone was asleep.

The king's bedroom was guarded by armed escorts. Though the sky had long since turned black, not a trace of drowsiness showed on the guards' faces. Their vigilant gazes, wary of potential intruders, were as sharp as blades.

However, a stealthy intruder, whom even these thoroughly trained guards couldn't detect, had just entered the king's bedroom.

Rustle rustle.

The intruder, moving many legs to climb up the bed, instantly arrived beside the sleeping Hasan. Hasan seemed completely unaware of the intruder's presence, sleeping peacefully.

"......"

The intruder looked at the foolish human. If it had facial muscles, it would have worn an extremely contemptuous expression.

Indeed, transforming into this form had been a good choice. A body small enough to go unnoticed was optimal for moving around secretly. Though it wasn't to the intruder's taste, or more precisely, food preference.

The intruder was a picky gourmet. Despite being a being that could survive on nature's energy alone, the reason for its unnecessary eating behavior was its fondness for the taste of tempered metal.

But when necessary, it would also eat foods not to its taste. The intruder had the special talent of transforming into whatever it ate, and sometimes there was a need to use this ability.

For instance, recently it had swallowed a small spirit beast bird. This was to escape from the dragon trying to capture it. However, it had made a foolish mistake here. Approaching smugly, thinking the dragon wouldn't notice it, only to be caught.

Yes. In truth, this intruder wasn't that intelligent... By human realm standards, it was just slightly better than a dog. It was at the level of a beast, befitting the title of spirit beast.

Fearing detection by the dragon, it had earnestly imitated a bird and ended up living with a human who happened to be nearby. Fortunately, the human wasn't a bad companion, and somehow, being together made the intruder want to follow this human. It had even willingly swallowed insects that weren't to its taste because the human had asked.

Though the emotion had formed unnaturally, the intruder didn't sense anything strange. Black magic had naturally placed the intruder under the human's control. Of course, the good feeling the intruder got when the human stroked its head or called it "Chirpy" wasn't because of black magic.

Anyway, the intruder, Chirpy, quite liked its name. Having someone call its name was a special event even in the long life of a spirit beast.

Chirpy approached Hasan, recalling its master's orders.

At that moment.

"Mmm."

Hasan frowned and turned over onto his side. Chirpy was startled and quickly retreated. Being so small now, getting crushed by that body would be a terrible disaster.

After maintaining a vigilant stance for a moment, Chirpy moved again when Hasan settled down. Thus, it safely climbed onto the back of his hand.

―Sob, hic.

A crying sound began to reach its ears. No, not its ears. It was in its mind.

Unlike Kinaine, Chirpy wasn't surprised. This method of communication was familiar. And for good reason...

―Who, who are you? Wait, somehow I feel a familiar flame energy!

This was the communication method of spirit beasts.

That wasn't all. Chirpy knew this one.

The feeling was mutual, as the other soon acknowledged it.

―You, aren't you that metal-eating weirdo?

Who was it calling a weirdo? Chirpy felt indignant.

Compared to this one's hobby, eating metal was nothing. Protecting others from the heat of flames for thousands of years could only be described as madness.

But Chirpy couldn't argue. Its indignation was overshadowed by surprise and bewilderment.

This one had been missing for a very long time.

Chirpy recalled the horned tribe members who had shouted, 'Humans have stolen the guardian spirit!'

―You've come to rescue me! Sob, you don't know how long I've waited for this day!

The 'guardian spirit' of the land of fire that had gone missing.

The being that the horned tribe had been searching for so desperately was right before Chirpy's eyes.

―...You, here? Why here.

Chirpy awkwardly initiated conversation. Having always lived alone, Chirpy was uncomfortable communicating with its own kind.

―I was a fool! I was deceived by a wicked human!

In contrast, the guardian spirit was fluent, as if it had spoken countless times. Though there were no other spirit beasts in the human realm, meaning no beings who could understand its words, its language skills hadn't rusted at all. This was because it had continued to speak endlessly even without anyone to listen.

―If only that human hadn't deceived me with lies!

The full story of the guardian spirit's disappearance was as follows.

A hundred years ago.

The guardian spirit was, as usual, engaged in its hobby of protecting the horned tribe from geothermal heat. However, having done the same thing for hundreds of years, it had become a bit tedious. Isn't there a time when even something you truly love becomes boring when repeated? For the guardian spirit, that was precisely this period.

It was then that the guardian spirit met a human. At that time, the bridge connecting the human realm and spirit realm was permanent, so those who knew the method could come and go freely. This human was one of them.

The human told the bored guardian spirit about interesting events happening in the human realm. He spoke so well that his stories even captivated the guardian spirit's ears.

To the point where it thought, 'Maybe I should visit the human realm for a few days too?'

But naturally, no one welcomed the guardian spirit's outing. This was because the guardian spirit had become too important to the horned tribe.

So the human proposed to secretly take the guardian spirit to the human realm. Saying it could quickly return.

The guardian spirit agreed. Everyone was just worried, but what harm could there be in a brief visit?

'Wait, if I go in my true form, I'll be discovered before crossing the bridge, so I need to hide my appearance.'

Unfortunately, the guardian spirit didn't have transformation abilities like Chirpy, so it came up with the worst method.

Namely, abandoning its physical form.

Spirit beasts, being closest to nature, return to their natural form when they abandon their physical form. In the guardian spirit's case, it was a flame.

The guardian spirit decided to dwell in a small stone on the ground. A red stone imbued with geothermal energy matched its nature well and was small enough to be invisible if the human put it in his pocket, making it a good choice. At least that's what it thought at the time.

After explaining the plan, the guardian spirit began to get excited about exploring a new world. But suddenly, the human changed his mind and shook his head, saying it wouldn't work!

'I'm sorry, Guardian Spirit. I think it would be better for you to find another human than me.'

The human explained that he was actually the illegitimate child of a nobleman, in a precarious position where he might be killed at any time due to complicated family circumstances. Seeing the human sniffling, saying he wanted his family to survive even if he didn't, the guardian spirit became anxious.

It's natural to become more desperate when something you want is within reach and then suddenly taken away. Having expected to go to the human realm and then being told it wasn't possible made it impatient.

So it 'promised.'

'Don't worry about that. I promise that whoever possesses this stone, I will protect them if they wish it, no matter who they are!'

Spirits cannot break their covenants. This applied to spirit beasts as well.

Having received the promise, the human took the guardian spirit to the human realm.

The human realm, visited for the first time, was interesting and enjoyable. The problem occurred afterward.

'Now, send me back!'

'......'

'Umm, human?'

The voice of the guardian spirit, which had become a stone, was inaudible to the human.

Of course, even if he could hear it, the human wouldn't have sent the guardian spirit back.

Because the guardian spirit's ability was too remarkable.

Just by possessing the red stone where the guardian spirit dwelled, no metal, poison, or even demonic energy could harm the owner. Who would discard such a supreme shield?

From the beginning, the human had only promised to 'take the guardian spirit to the human realm,' carefully avoiding saying 'I will send you back to the spirit realm.' This had been his intention all along.

Only then did the guardian spirit realize it had been scammed.

But by then, it was too late.

―And so I was passed from one human hand to another until I ended up here...

Chirpy looked at the bracelet wrapped around Hasan's wrist. A red jewel was embedded in the thick gold bracelet.

―Idiot.

―Who are you calling an idiot! Looking at you in the human realm too, weren't you also deceived by someone?

―No. I was asked.

Chirpy puffed up its chest proudly.

―By whom?

―Nine!

―Who is that?

The guardian spirit realized the identity of 'Nine' through the awkward words strung together by the eccentric spirit beast. It was the one being tormented by the human who possessed it.

―I suspected it, but it was true that human heard my voice then! But it's strange. Only a dragon should be able to hear my voice in this state, unless it's a being from the spirit realm...

The question didn't last long.

―Anyway, please rescue me quickly!

―Okay. I'll swallow the bad human and spit only you out.

―That won't do!

The guardian spirit cried urgently.

―If you attack, I'll naturally defend because of the promise. Then this fellow will sense something strange and assess the situation, and we might never get another chance! We must be cautious!

Chirpy became a bit annoyed...

―Then, what should we do?

―We need to make this human remove the bracelet himself!

And Kinaine, lying on a pile of straw, was listening to all of this conversation. With a bitter smile.

'The question is how to do that...'